GSA: 6,400 employees take part in telework event

The General Services Administration (GSA) is finding more and more agencies are embracing a teleworking program for their employees.

During the recent national Telework Week event, held from March 5-9, GSA Administrator Martha Johnson wrote in a blog post that 6,400 employees, about half of its workforce, participated in the program, working either out of their homes or shared workplaces.

"Technology now lets us be more mobile, and the work we do has changed; it relies less on being watched and more on being connected and getting the work done," she said.

Johnson added that its telework policy shatters the long-held perception that employees will be working in isolated silos by creating an environment that favors greater collaboration.

One of the advantages that GSA found by implementing a teleworking program was that it was able to reduce costs by reducing the physical space it needed to operate in its Washington, D.C. region, for example. The agency plans to offer shared workspaces in its renovated downtown D.C. office.